Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe

Ben Kraus-Kyora; Cheryl Makarewicz; Allowen Marie Juliette Evin; Linus Girdland Flink; Keith Dobney; Greger Larson; Sonke Hartze; Stefan Schreiber; Claus von Carnap-Bornheim; Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark; Almut Nebel

doi:10.1038/ncomms3348

Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe

Ben Kraus-Kyora, Cheryl Makarewicz, Allowen Marie Juliette Evin, Linus Girdland Flink, Keith Dobney, Greger Larson, Sonke Hartze, Stefan Schreiber, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark , Almut Nebel

Archaeology

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Abstract

Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Ertebølle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Ertebølle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Ertebølle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.

Original language	English
Article number	2348
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3348
Publication status	Published - 27 Aug 2013

Keywords

biological sciences
palaeontology

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10.1038/ncomms3348

Krause-Kyora et al. 2013 Nat Comm
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial-No Derivs (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute this work non-commercially provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
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Kraus-Kyora, B., Makarewicz, C., Evin, A. M. J., Girdland Flink, L., Dobney, K., Larson, G., Hartze, S., Schreiber, S., von Carnap-Bornheim, C., von Wurmb-Schwark , N., & Nebel, A. (2013). Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe. Nature Communications, 4, [2348]. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3348

Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe. / Kraus-Kyora, Ben; Makarewicz, Cheryl; Evin, Allowen Marie Juliette; Girdland Flink, Linus ; Dobney, Keith; Larson, Greger; Hartze, Sonke; Schreiber, Stefan; von Carnap-Bornheim, Claus; von Wurmb-Schwark , Nicole; Nebel, Almut.

In: Nature Communications, Vol. 4, 2348, 27.08.2013.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

@article{8182060df0f24ee0bdac4c86096fd6b4,

title = "Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe",

abstract = "Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Erteb{\o}lle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Erteb{\o}lle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Erteb{\o}lle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.",

keywords = "biological sciences, palaeontology",

author = "Ben Kraus-Kyora and Cheryl Makarewicz and Evin, {Allowen Marie Juliette} and {Girdland Flink}, Linus and Keith Dobney and Greger Larson and Sonke Hartze and Stefan Schreiber and {von Carnap-Bornheim}, Claus and {von Wurmb-Schwark}, Nicole and Almut Nebel",

note = "Acknowledgements We thank the Archaeological State Museum Schleswig-Holstein, the Archaeological State Offices of Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony and the following individuals who provided sample material: Betty Arndt, Jo¨rg Ewersen, Frederick Feulner, Susanne Hanik, Ru¨diger Krause, Jochen Reinhard, Uwe Reuter, Karl-Heinz Ro¨hrig, Maguerita Scha¨fer, Jo¨rg Schibler, Reinhold Schoon, Regina Smolnik, Thomas Terberger and Ingrid Ulbricht. We are grateful to Ulrich Schmo¨lcke, Michael Forster, Peter Forster and Aikaterini Glykou for their support and comments on the manuscript. We also thank many institutions and individuals that provided sample material and access to collections, especially the curators of the Museum fu¨r Naturkunde, Berlin; Muse´um National d0 Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.; Zoologische Staatssammlung, Mu¨nchen; Museum fu¨r Haustierkunde, Halle; the American Museum of Natural History, New-York. This work was funded by the Graduate School {\textquoteleft}Human Development in Landscapes{\textquoteright} at Kiel University (CAU) and supported by NERC project Grant NE/F003382/1. Radiocarbon dating was carried out at the Leibniz Laboratory, CAU. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. ",

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AU - Kraus-Kyora, Ben

AU - Makarewicz, Cheryl

AU - Evin, Allowen Marie Juliette

AU - Girdland Flink, Linus

AU - Dobney, Keith

AU - Larson, Greger

AU - Hartze, Sonke

AU - Schreiber, Stefan

AU - von Carnap-Bornheim, Claus

AU - von Wurmb-Schwark , Nicole

AU - Nebel, Almut

N1 - Acknowledgements We thank the Archaeological State Museum Schleswig-Holstein, the Archaeological State Offices of Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony and the following individuals who provided sample material: Betty Arndt, Jo¨rg Ewersen, Frederick Feulner, Susanne Hanik, Ru¨diger Krause, Jochen Reinhard, Uwe Reuter, Karl-Heinz Ro¨hrig, Maguerita Scha¨fer, Jo¨rg Schibler, Reinhold Schoon, Regina Smolnik, Thomas Terberger and Ingrid Ulbricht. We are grateful to Ulrich Schmo¨lcke, Michael Forster, Peter Forster and Aikaterini Glykou for their support and comments on the manuscript. We also thank many institutions and individuals that provided sample material and access to collections, especially the curators of the Museum fu¨r Naturkunde, Berlin; Muse´um National d0 Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.; Zoologische Staatssammlung, Mu¨nchen; Museum fu¨r Haustierkunde, Halle; the American Museum of Natural History, New-York. This work was funded by the Graduate School ‘Human Development in Landscapes’ at Kiel University (CAU) and supported by NERC project Grant NE/F003382/1. Radiocarbon dating was carried out at the Leibniz Laboratory, CAU. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

PY - 2013/8/27

Y1 - 2013/8/27

N2 - Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Ertebølle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Ertebølle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Ertebølle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.

AB - Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Ertebølle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Ertebølle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Ertebølle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.

KW - biological sciences

KW - palaeontology

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DO - 10.1038/ncomms3348

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JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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ER -